Media Coverage

Preclinical research conducted by Tracey A. Ignatowski, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, is demonstrating that perispinal injection of an antibody that blocks tumor necrosis factor-alpha alleviates chronic neuropathic pain. 

A number of news stories reported on a new digital method of classifying diabetic neuropathy developed by Pinaki Sarder, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, and Brandon Ginley, a student in the computational cell biology, anatomy and pathology doctoral program.

An article on the website of the National Science Foundation reports on the work of a trio of researchers in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences — professor Michal K. Stachowiak, PhD, and assistant professors Ewa K. Stachowiak, PhD, and Yongho Bae, PhD — and Josep M. Jornet, PhD, assistant professor of electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering, that showed that tiny brain implants can wirelessly control FGFR1 — a gene that plays a key role in how humans grow from embryos to adults — in lab-grown tissue. “The potential of optogenomic interfaces is enormous,” Jornet said. “It could drastically reduce the need for medicinal drugs and other therapies for certain illnesses. It could also change how humans interact with machines.”

SciShow, a YouTube channel with over 5 million subscribers, published a video describing the latest research by Jack Tseng, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences. SciShow reports that Tseng’s team identified the first fossil evidence of hyenas in the Arctic during an ice age — two fossils that had been tucked away in a Canadian museum for decades.

A new virtual reality program is being used to enhance Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences students’ education. “Very recently, virtual reality has become much more prominent in society, and it’s still in its infancy stage, so we’re taking a look at the possibility of virtual reality being used to facilitate cadaver anatomy teaching in the laboratory session and outside of the laboratory session,” said Stuart D. Inglis, PhD, instructor of pathology and anatomical sciences.

A study by first author Jack Tseng, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences has reported that two fossil teeth found in Canada are the first known fossils of hyenas from the Arctic. They belonged to the “running hyena” Chasmaporthetes. “Our previous understanding of where these far-ranging hyenas lived was based on fossil records in southern North America on one hand, and Asia, Europe and Africa on the other,” Tseng says. “These rare records of hyenas in the Arctic fill in a massive gap in a location where we expected evidence of their crossing between continents but had no proof until now.”

In an article about the complexity of animal skulls, Jack Tseng, PhD, provides expertise on the skulls of animal fetuses. They have approximately 43 bones that are developmentally distinct, “but some of them fuse as mammals grow,” and the number of fused bones may differ among mammal groups notes Tseng, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences. “I would say that you could probably find marsupial species with close to that number of skull bones,” Tseng adds.

Jack Tseng, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, discusses a newly described species — a giant meat-eating mammal named Simbakubwa kutokaafrika — which prowled the Earth some 22 million years ago. Additionally, he gives insights on the skulls of domesticated dogs versus wild wolves.

A new research study co-authored by Jack Tseng, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, examines the oddly shaped skull of an extinct weasel called Leptarctus primus. The study found that the animal was likely a carnivorous predator, with capability for omnivory and a broader diet when prey was scarce, and had a skull that functioned similarly to that of the living American badger. “For a mammal, its skull is really strange,” said Tseng, who also serves as a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. “It’s heavily built — like a tank — with very thick zygomatic cheek bones. The top of its head looks like it’s wearing a helmet.”

Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences researchers have developed a tool that lets medical professionals analyze images without having to rely on engineering expertise to interpret medical images. “We have created an automatic, human-in-the-loop segmentation tool for pathologists and radiologists,” said Pinaki Sarder, PhD, associate professor of pathology and anatomical sciences. “With our system, you don't have to know any machine learning. Now medical professionals can do structure annotation by themselves.”

Few palaeontologists share 3D scans of fossils online. Jack Tseng, PhD, is an exception. The assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences uses 3D scans to simulate stress patterns during biting in skulls from fossils and extant species. He has traveled to see far-flung fossil collections, but increasingly he relies on “virtual fossils” for his studies. When he has published his findings, he uploads his scans to an online database for other researchers to download.

Research by M. Aleksander Wysocki, a student in the doctoral program in computational cell biology, anatomy and pathology, and Jack Tseng, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, found that the jaw joint bone, the center around which chewing activity literally revolves, appears to have evolved based more on an animal’s size than what it eats.

Research by Jack Tseng, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, analyzed the fossilized feces of the canine ancestors of dogs and wolves to discover that the extinct species had a jawbone powerful enough to crush the bones of its prey.

Business First reports on how the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ RISE (Research, Innovation, Surgical Simulation, Education) initiative is taking a unique approach to teaching anatomy and quotes John E. Tomaszewski, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and the Peter A. Nickerson, PhD, Chair of the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, and Steven D. Schwaitzberg, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Surgery.

An article on the blog Rebel Circus reports on a study by Michal K. Stachowiak, PhD, professor of pathology and anatomical sciences, that uses cerebral organoids — or mini brains — to understand the cause of schizophrenia. “Neurons that connect different regions of the cortex, the so-called interneurons, become misdirected in the schizophrenia cortex, causing cortical regions to be misconnected, like an improperly wired computer,” Stachowiak said.